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Unable to play in WCG, ChuaN is hanging out. Here he’s been recruited as an emergency translator as GTV’s Xiaoyou attempts to interview Dendi! I make no judgment of the interviewer. lol. Dendi shows off his limited Chinese skills, all in all good fun.

Rough transcript (including the obvious English parts for completeness):

0:18 Xiaoyou: Here we are fortunate enough to get an interview with NaVi’s Dendi, representing the Ukrainian team in Dota2 at WCG, a player that everyone loves. First off let’s have him say hi to everyone!

0:33 Dendi: Hello, I am Danil Ishutin, I play for NaVi, at this WCG I play for Ukraine.

0:42 Xiaoyou: Oh, I forgot to mention, this here we have ChuaN who is serving as our special translator, give him a shot. Okay, good, thank you to him for the hard work.

0:49 Xiaoyou: *laughs* Really, the two of them have a great relationship, we can all see this. Anyway, we’d like to ask Dendi, how many times have you visited China?

1:14 Xiaoyou: So he’s said everything I want to hear, and now I’m blushing >.<

1:20 Xiaoyou: Now that this is your third time here, can you tell us your impression of China?

1:22 Dendi: Mmm, it’s pretty good. Only been here one day so far this time.

1:34 Xiaoyou: Then… you like China?

1:40 Dendi: Yeah! Of course! *nods*

1:44 Xiaoyou: *laughs* I really want him to say a bit more! Then let’s ask him his impression of the girls here in China.

1:54 Dendi: China girls are very cute.

2:00 Xiaoyou: Ohh, yes, I see. *embarrassed* When he said that he glanced at me!! Nah, just kidding.

2:04 Xiaoyou: Okay, let’s ask some real questions. You’re here for the Dota2 competition, representing Ukraine. Then, were there any special preparations before coming here to compete?

2:16 Dendi: *ooooh points at ChuaN accusingly (he thought ChuaN mistranslated on purpose to ‘steal’ practice secrets, joke of course)* Well, we have some strategies in mind but we didn’t practice at all.

2:30 Xiaoyou: Ah. So when he pointed at you just now, it was because you are iG and he was accusing you of trying to sabotage them?

2:36 ChuaN: Yeah.

2:36 Xiaoyou: Ohh. We can see that Dendi is indeed very smart. Okay then, now I want to ask a bit about iG. At TI2 in Seattle you guys ended up losing to iG to take 2nd place, did you do any extra analysis of iG afterwards?

2:53 Dendi: We tried to realize what went wrong, and so on, yeah.

3:03 Xiaoyou: At this competition, who do you think is your biggest threat?

ZSMJ is at WCG in person, and 178’s reporters got an interview with in and asked about his forming of a new team, let us see what he has to say.

178: Thank you for accepting our interview ZSMJ. Long time now see, want to say hello to everyone?

ZSMJ: Hello everyone, I am ZSMJ. Very happy that I could be at the WCG Finals here.

178: You’ve been retired for a fair amount of time, can you reveal anything about your life after retirement, have you gotten used to a Dota-less lifestyle?

ZSMJ: For the past bit of time I’ve had a steady job, so I’ve been passing my days as an ordinary person. No matter if my choice is to play professionally or to retire, the choices are my own, so I can get used to it all.

178: Lately, rumors of your return to the Dota scene have attracted widespread attention, have you decided to come back?

ZSMJ: Yes. Here I can give everyone a definite answer, and my new team is under construction right now.

178: What were the reasons behind deciding to come back? Is it because in your heart you could never let Dota go, or Dota2’s massive prize pool competitions?

ZSMJ: Actually it’s none of those. It can only be said to be an alignment of the stars, a well-timed return of a friend, who successfully talked me into it, which ultimately allowed me to decide to return.

178: Can you reveal anything about the process of forming your new team?

ZSMJ: The final 5 man roster hasn’t been confirmed yet, because in the current scene it’s still quite hard to find suitable people. Personally speaking, once the team is formed, then the only goal is to strive for championships, nothing else.

178: How much experience have you had with Dota2, have you already gotten used to it?

ZSMJ: Started playing it about a month ago, getting used to it requires a process, and I firmly believe that as long as I continue practicing, I will for sure become good at this game.

178: Previously there have been vods of your Dota2 play, and there were comments saying that your ability had declined, do you feel the same way?

ZSMJ: I don’t feel so. Perhaps expectations for me are too high, resulting in a gap between that and reality. But really, this is a process for me to get back into it, plus Dota2 for me is starting from scratch, added to the time that I had been retired, so of course there will be a period of time I need to find my form. I believe in myself, and I ask everyone to also believe in me.

178: How much time do you spend now on Dota2?

ZSMJ: Apart from eating and sleeping, all I do is play Dota2. I am a very focused person, if I decide to go do something, it can be the only thing I ever spend my time on.

178: In matchmaking have you bumped up against other professional players? What is your win rate like against them?

ZSMJ: We all win some, lose some I think. Because you still have to look at my pub teammates’ performances. Players like those from iG, DK, LGD have all had more time with Dota2, so they’re certainly more experienced with the game than I am. What I can do now is to simply take every match seriously, get used to Dota2 more quickly, I believe hard work will pay off.

178: In the past you had released a few Dota first person commentary vods, have you had thoughts of becoming a commentator?

ZSMJ: I can say with certainty, no. My first person vods are completely done out of my own interest, to thank everyone for supporting me. But now I’ve decided to come back, so my focus is entirely on practicing, so in the future I probably won’t be updating any vods.

178: Okay, thank you 马甲哥 (Majiage, his Steam name for quite a while, means ‘vest dude’ literally, but also means ‘sockpuppet bro’ — thanks reddit user Rice_22). At the last, say a few words for all your fans.

ZSMJ: Thank you to everyone for still remembering me and wondering about me. This year of ordinary life has allowed me to learn a lot. No matter what, the most important thing is following your interests, and you must have passion for it. I will not let your hopes down. Once my new team is confirmed, I hope that you will support us all too.

Replays.Net: 430 hello, welcome to this interview with Replays.Net, first say hi to everyone

iG.430: Hello everyone, I am Dota player 430 from iG

RN: Dota2 has become an official competition of WCG, so do you have any thoughts about finally being able to meet and face fellow Dota players on the WCG stage?

430: I’m very excited, WCG is an old-school name and I’ve been drawn to it since I was young.

RN: Dendi is also supposed to attend this WCG, and the two of you are the top solo mid players in the world, can you talk a bit with us about your experiences playing against him, and how you will approach it this WCG?

430: Dendi’s play is quite intelligent, playing against him, typically it’s the mid-game teamfights where he displays flawless execution.

RN: ChuaN due to nationality cannot play with iG at WCG this time, what kind of reaction has he had to this?

430: A bit sad I think, missing out on such a big competition.

RN: Hearing that Chisbug will be replacing ChuaN for this competition, we want to ask how Chisbug is doing in Dota2? How has his training been with you all? Will positions within the team change because of Chisbug being added in?

430: Chisbug is temporarily replacing ChuaN’s position for this WCG, his pub play is pretty good. The training has also been decent, and there will be no position changes because he’s just replacing ChuaN for now.

RN: G-1 offline your performances weren’t very good, and there are some strong opponents at WCG, have you made any adjustments in the time between then and now to prepare?

430: Hard work in training, work on improving form. And some analysis of pick and ban lineups.

RN: In your view, who are your biggest opponents at WCG? Surely iG’s goal must be champions, how much confidence do you have?

430: DK and NaVi think, and 50% confidence in being champions.

RN: Competitions both in China and around the world have pretty much all transitioned to Dota2 now, yet many Chinese teams hold varying degrees of love for DotA, what are your views on the trends in transitions?

430: It’s simply the greater trend now, I think once people are used to Dota2, most will prefer it more.

RN: The Chinese vendor for Dota2 has been confirmed as Perfect World. From a professional player’s point of view, can you give an opinion, or some suggestions?

430: The experience for new players must be well implemented, and then it’s ensuring server quality, as well as incorporating anti-hack systems.

RN: We all know that you often queue with JJ Lin (Dotaland note: Chinese mega pop star, srsly huge in Asia), this has made us all curious — what is his skill leve like? Does he have interest in your competition results? Is there ever any discussion of competitions?

430: Pretty much average pub player level. As for competitions, he doesn’t follow them. He just plays for fun when he’s got some time.

RN: After the International in Seattle, many Chinese Dota2 teams have seen improved flexibility and creativity in lineups and strategies, drafting many formerly un-used heroes to the clan war stage. On this matter, iG has definite right to speak, so can you explain to us a bit about what brought about these new developments, and whether there have been any changes in mental approaches?

430: Because in Dota2 some heroes have much improved movement projectile animations, such as Leshrac and Queen of Pain, in addition to some differences in mechanics, so we have rarely used Dota1 heroes becoming more popular in Dota2. In terms of mental approach, we’ve become more eager to play less utilized heroes.

RN: At this WCG are there any specific players or competitions that you are particularly interested in following?

430: Not right now, no.

RN: There are two Mongolian teams at this WCG whom you have never faced before, it might be that they have some special tactics prepared, is there any pressure?

430: This is something that can only be known once we face off, [it’s not a new situation] because there are many able teams in the SEA Dota2 scene.

RN: WCG is a worldwide competition, with strong representative teams from various countries coming to determine a victor. Of course, in both Dota1 and Dota2 Chinese teams are top in terms of ability, what do you feel is the reason Chinese teams can establish and maintain this lead?

430: More professional scene than in other places. In my understanding, most other teams in other countries are strictly online, only coming together for a few days before major competitions.

RN: We’ve talked so much about competition, can you tell everyone a bit about your everyday life? Apart from training do you have any other activities and interests? We all want to know how vibrant and colorful our player-gods’ lives are….

430: Actually it’s very ordinary… after training every night we all just go and play a few pubs, watch something, or read something, stuff like that.

RN: If iG wins the first WCG Dota2 competition and you need to speak on stage, what would you say?

430: I would say a childhood dream has been realized.

RN: Thank you 430 for doing this interview with us, and we wish you success at WCG and glory for the motherland.

430: Thank you to Replays.Net for the interview, I will bring good form and win the competition.

RN: It could be said that WCG used to be the absolute top of world esports competition, but as other competition scaled up both their size and prizepools, it feels as if WCG is no longer a major attraction. How do you all feel towards WCG as a competition?

BurNing: I believe that many people only became interested in esports because of WCG, me being one of them. No matter what the prize pool is, WCG has been around for all these years, so it undoubtedly remains one of the most influential events around the world.

RN: Your team just ended their G-1 competition. Surely for a team such as yours with such grand ambitions and confidence, taking second place was not satisfactory. This WCG is a very good opportunity to redeem yourselves somewhat, do you feel that this will be a new start for you?

BurNing: Compared to LGD and iG, we’ve always been in more of a breaking in period in terms of teamwork. Our G-1 results indeed cannot leave us satisfied, we lost due to insufficient preparation, so we await the upcoming challenges presented by WCG.

RN: We all feel that current DK has great talent, but it seems that there were communication issues between players. Right now have there been adjustments and discussions regarding who should take the lead in matches, in order to avoid splits in decision-making in the future?

BurNing: These problems have indeed shown themselves a bit recently, in both bans and picks as well as overall tactical thought there have been not insignificant amounts of differences, and we’re currently making adjustments.

RN: In this G-1, Luna had an extremely high win rate, and Magnus and Jakiro both joined in as hot commodities, yet it seems like DK doesn’t tend to favor picking heroes like these, with you guys more often going for Leshrac, Invoker. Does this have to do with your team style, or what? Have you tried some new strategies?

BurNing: We’ve been too singular in our training, and our picks haven’t been very suitable for the current tempo of games, yet we never went to try new setups. These issues are a result of inappropriate training methods.

RN: It feels like the overall ability of your opponents at this WCG aren’t very strong, with various teams missing members due to WCG regulations, including iG without ChuaN. Does this lead to more confidence in winning the title here?

BurNing: Even without ChuaN, they’re still very strong. Additionally, Orange as well as the Ukrainian team led by Dendi cannot be underestimated.

RN: In your eyes, right now who is a tougher opponent between LGD and iG, and who do you like to face more?

BurNing: Both are quite tough, and we don’t like facing either, it’s just that towards the later stages of competitions they’ll always be there.

RN: From a professional player’s point of view, is it easy road to win for you or is it a bit sad that so many strong teams and players won’t be present?

BurNing: Those with ability will naturally be able to win, those without it can only watch others win, so it all has nothing to do with who is participating in a given competition.

RN: So these teams at WCG are mostly all unknown, do you think that all the non-Chinese teams are walkovers?

BurNing: At WCG we will not slack in any match, we will take every opponent seriously.

RN: WCG has always lacked a Dota competition, so as a first-time participant of WCG this year, do you have any thoughts?

BurNing: First time participating in a world finals for WCG, I’m sure it will be very exciting and fierce.

RN: Does your family occasionally watch you in your competitions?

BurNing: Occasionally they will. Usually it’s when I win, I give them a call, and when I lose, they give me a call. It’s been quite a while since I gave them a call.

RN: Although many fans have been very disappointed with your recent performances, really it’s because everyone has a sort of high expectation for DK. So any words to those fans and followers?

BurNing: Thank you to i-ROCKS for sponsoring our team, thank you to everyone for their long-time hopes and support of DK. We’ve disappointed you all, we’re currently working hard to make adjustments, so believe us, we’ll be back.

Since TI2, EHOME has fallen apart again, with PCT leaving, 357 and Dai going to DK, KingJ backing out, and LanM saying he might retire. And in EHOME’s other sections, Warcraft 3 player ReMinD has announced he will leave gaming next year to fulfill his S.Korean military service, and the LoL team no longer exists. So it can be said that, EHOME.71 being the only one left meant that he was a general without an army.

And now, EHOME’s 71 has formally announced on his Weibo that he is leaving the esports scene, and thus EHOME is left with absolutely no one. Looking at various signs, everything hints that this once-glorious Dota juggernaut might be headed towards it demise; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust…

RN: This is the first time Dota is on the WCG stage (even though it’s technically just exhibitions), is there any pressure in representing China?

Hao: No pressure, we absolutely will not lose, and even if we lose it will be in the finals to LGD.

RN: Then your goal is?

Hao: Top 2!

RN: Apart from LGD which we’re obviously all very familiar with, there are some other teams from different places such as South Korea, Mongolia, and they are teams that we’re all not very familiar with. When you come up against these unfamiliar teams do you and other Chinese teams anticipate having any problems?

Hao: There should be a bit. Because these teams, we completely lack any knowledge of their style and preferred tactics. What heroes they use, what we should ban or pick, all things that we aren’t very clear on, so we can only rely on our own strongest systems.

RN: Currently most big Chinese teams have moved to training mostly for Dota2, so is there difficulty in finding practice partners for Dota1 now? (Dotaland note: TongFu will be representing China at WCG in Dota1) Do you have specific training for Dota1 right now, how is it going?

Hao: Yes, it’s very difficult, because nowadays there’s no one training Dota1 anymore. So the 5 of us can only run 5-man stacks on ladder to get re-acclimated to the feel of Dota1.

RN: You just brought up ladder, so what are your ladder rankings, what’s your win rate like?

Hao: Rankings are not all the same. Anywhere between 2300-2500… win rate… if all 5 of us are together, 90% or so.

RN: While you frantically prepare for WCG, there is also the G-League Dota2 competition, how do you balance your training focus? On the official TongFu blog posts we often see that you guys order delivery for meals, is this level of training causing any sort of exhaustion? And do you have any events or activities at your base to relax a bit?

Hao: Because we’re just about to go play WCG matches, so these couple days we haven’t trained any Dota2. After we get back from WCG, the plan is to only play Dota2, because we still need to prepare for G-League. About the food, it’s okay, we only get delivery when our house maid is on holiday or after she leaves at night, and it’s not too bad. We all laugh and joke around, in the past we used to play cards. Nowadays we don’t play cards anymore, because we’re all hungry for results to prove ourselves, so this recent period all we’ve been doing everyday is training.

Hao: Yes, because ddc is an extremely strong player, I feel that LGD without ddc is the same impact as iG without ChuaN. But KingJ should not be overlooked either, but we still have confidence.

RN: How have TongFu’s new roster additions longdd and Veronica come along? Your form and teamwork, have they met your expectations?

Hao: It’s been alright. A lot better than earlier. As for expectations, still a ways off… but when we built this current roster, the goal was always the next International.

RN: Dota2 China servers are close to arriving. For you, are there any functionalities that Steam currently lacks that you’d like to see?

Hao: None; as long as it’s playable it’s good. We all greatly look forward to China servers, because currently playing on Steam means we have really poor connections. The Shanghai server is un-usable, so we can only use the SEA server in Singapore. If China servers come online, then we can use those, and our training will have higher quality to it…

RN: Big thanks to Ms.Hao for the interview with us, and we wish you success at WCG. At the end, we ask you to use one sentence to describe each of your teammates, and yourself.

Hao: Sansheng: A good man! Veronica: This guy has had a little too many IDs recently. Mu: A very intellectually spirited player. longdd: Very high professionalism. Hao: Trying my best. And at the end, thanks to our sponsor “TongFu Porridge” for their constant support, thank you!

Dotaland note: Let’s get to know some new faces in the Chinese scene! Vici Gaming recently defeated well-known name Noah’s Ark in the G-League 2012 S2 preliminaries to book a spot in the round of 8 held in Shanghai. Who are they… where are they from… let’s find out!

In their debut at the G-League 2012 Season 2 preliminary stages, Dota2 newcomer team VG crushed Noah’s Ark by a score of 2-0, easily advancing to the Round of 8. Afterwards, we managed to get an interview with VG team lead Fengdidi (Dotaland note: his name translated literally is “wind little brother”)

SG: Hello, very glad to have Fengdidi do this interview with us, why don’t you say hi to everyone?

Fengdidi (Fdd): Hi everyone, I am PandaPanPan (Dotaland note: another ID of his from when he was a player)

SG: First of all congratulations to VG for the victory over NA in advancing to the round of 8!

Fdd: Thank you!

SG: As for many of VG’s players, it’s fair to assume that many fans have yet to come to know. Fengdidi can you introduce to us some information about your team?

Fdd: Our team was officially formed on October 21 (of this year), though before today we hadn’t gone live with it. The team currently has training in Hangzhou’s Westlake District.

SG: Can you please introduce us to your players?

Fdd: Apart from former TyLoo player xiao7, everyone else is pretty much new to the scene. For now we have CTY playing carry, the god of war xiao7 as solo, captain Fenrir and fy as supports, Xtt as the 3. (Dotaland note: due to being new players, their English IDs aren’t as established and these may not be authoritative names)

SG: Then we must ask, with all these new players, what led you to choose them in the formation of this new team?

Fdd: In the Dota circle I’ve looked at and considered many players. Over a long period of consideration, in addition to my own personal observations, I ended up going with these five players. After coming together and training for a month, so far I’ve been pretty satisfied/

SG: Can we ask a bit about the players’ living arrangements?

Fdd: All the arrangements are pretty ideal, food and lodging are all quite ideal. Everyone has their own room. And the base is in a very nice environment.

SG: How do you arrange and set up your training? With such massive progress here, can you reveal anything for us?

Fdd: The rules I’ve set for the players is to finish eating by noon, and then begin the day’s training. If there’s no training partner then they play as a 5 man group online, so for now the results have been pretty good over the past month. The players themselves are also pretty dedicated. In addition I also regularly join them so we can play 3v3 to practice laning.

SG: We heard Fengdidi you also used to be a pro player, what has led to you becoming a team manager now?

Fdd: Last year I played with Panda for a year, and went through quite a bit. This year I spent half a year chilling at home, until my current boss contacted me saying that he wanted to form a team, so I began work on making that happen. Why I don’t play professionally anymore is because I’m comparatively noob nowadays, plus I’m old now.

SG: Talk a bit about your match against NA, what are your thoughts on how the players performed?

Fdd: Their performance was within my expectations. The team trained for a month, before that they didn’t even know how Dota2, so this entire month I’ve been with them in training, explaining things to them, so now that they’ve defeated NA, I feel that it’s all expected. Especially since NA recently hasn’t been training Dota2.

SG: Your win over NA was also within my expectations. Want to make a prediction for the match between TongFu and N9?

Fdd: As for predictions, I definitely hope TongFu can win, after all many of their players were teammates of mine in the past, and I really hope to be able to meet them in Shanghai. Plus, we stack every night to play Dota2!

SG: After defeating NA, surely other teams will begin to take notice of you and take you more seriously. What do you think of your chances of advancing to the semifinals?

Fdd: Advancing to the semifinals we’ll have to look at our performance and luck, so the specific chances aren’t something I can comfortably conclude right now!

SG: Okay, thank you Fengdidi for the interview! Let us meet again in Shanghai then. And we wish VG good results in this edition of the G-League.